And They Called It Camelot by Stephanie Marie Thornton

Author:Stephanie Marie Thornton [Thornton, Stephanie Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

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• • •

Why do you and Daddy argue?” Caroline asked as we swam in the bathwater-warm pool of the Palm Beach house loaned to us for Christmas. I was teaching her the backstroke, but it was obvious her mind was elsewhere. As was mine, for I’d hoped to ask Mr. Kennedy’s advice about his son, but Jack’s father had left early for a round of golf, leaving me to stew in an uncomfortable mire of my own worries.

“Well, Buttons, your daddy and I don’t always agree on everything.” While we’d come to a tentative agreement on the dates for my trip to India and Pakistan—this coming March, just one month after my unveiling of the fully renovated White House—this morning we’d argued over our budget before Jack returned to Washington for a few days. According to Jack, liquor was flowing out of the White House as though it were the last days of the Roman Empire and my clothing bill for the year was outrageous (I countered that four thousand dollars to Givenchy was money well spent for de Gaulle’s reaction and subsequent friendship). I’d learned that Jack was donating his presidential salary to the United Negro College Fund, the National Association for Retarded Children, and the Boy Scouts of America—all worthy charities—but I’d responded that perhaps we should refill unfinished glasses at banquets and serve them again, unless they had obvious lipstick marks on the rim.

“You can’t be serious.” Exasperated, Jack retrieved the indulgence of an Upmann cigar from his walnut humidor and lit up, filling the room with a thick fug of smoke and discontent.

To which I’d only crossed my arms. “It’ll save you a few precious dollars, even if some people do get hepatitis from a White House function.”

No, things were not at all smooth in the Kennedy household these days.

I’ll admit, while I was learning to navigate this new French-style marriage and turn a blind eye to my husband’s weaknesses, I wasn’t above making him pay for them with tiny jabs here and there. Not just Jack, but also his lollipops. A few days ago, when my usual game of morning tennis on the White House court was threatened with cancellation for lack of a partner, I’d conscripted staffer Jill Cowan—also known as Faddle, who was inclined to smirk at me when she thought I wasn’t looking—to play against me. It just so happened that poor Faddle didn’t have tennis shoes and had to play in her bare feet. The poor, poor dear.

Sometimes I felt as if I was being smothered, as if everything I did was somehow tied to Jack, and that I was losing—perhaps had already lost—a critical part of myself.

Now I brushed Caroline’s wet hair out of her eyes, glad Jack had returned to Washington that morning and wasn’t around to witness this poolside conversation. “Occasional arguments are normal when you’re married. But your daddy and I love each other, and that’s all that matters.”

Caroline didn’t have a chance to respond, for Mr.

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